Embarrassing AI #49: Playing AI badly makes you an AI musician

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I’m a terrible musician.

Never spent enough time practicing to get better. But still, I got to blow my horn in a little cover band at work, and I’ve played around with keyboards, guitars and drums enough to know what I don’t know.

Everyone should learn how to play an instrument, badly. At least.

Because even if you can’t perform to save your sorry ass, playing badly makes you a musician. A bad one, but one none the less.

And when you listen to others perform a thousand times better than you, you have an inkling about what they are doing. You know what it takes to create a sound, to get in the pocket, to create fleeting beauty.

You’re in a brotherhood.

I’m starting to feel the same about AI.

I may not be good at much of it, but now that I’m prompting, orchestrating, building agents, vibe coding, thinking about how to train it to give me what I want, I feel like an AI musician.

And unlike when I play instruments, now I’m practicing.

Like I will, learning to play Ol’ 55 this coming year.

The practice of the thing removes some of the mystery, only to reveal the magic.

At least the way things stand right now, what we get from AI is deep technical competence, but not yet intelligence. It feels like magic because technical competence is difficult to find. And now its just casually available.

The value of the answers I receive when working with AI are in direct correspondence with the quality of instructions I give.

That’s the practice that makes us musicians.

How do you talk to this thing that is becoming increasingly inexplicable to those that make it? You wont know without trying.

Sometimes it’ll be great.

Sometimes it’ll be the most embarrassing AI.

I’ve added a voice integration with elevenlabs on my Ol’ 55 app that will help students learn how to sign the lyrics.

Tomorrow I’m presenting this app for a competition. I’ll let you know how it went.

Tools I am using to fake being an expert.

1. Beehiiv (The Platform)

"I tried other platforms, but Beehiiv is the only one that makes growth feel like a game. It’s what runs this newsletter. The Deal: You get a free trial + 20% off (I get a commission to keep the lights on)."

2. Wispr Flow (The Time Saver)

"I hate typing. This tool turns my rambling voice notes into perfect text. It’s the only way I can write this much every day. The Deal: We both get a free month if you try it."

3. Emergent (The Coding Cheat)

"I am not a coder. Emergent is my 'vibe coding' partner that writes the messy parts for me. Essential if you want to build apps without a CS degree."

🧘‍♂ Last Word.

There’s almost a ghost in the shell.

Making daily progress,

P.S. Did I do something totally backwards today? Or do you have a better prompt for this? Hit reply and tell me. I’m here to learn just as much as you are. (I read every single email).